Everyone might be on the bus, but the wheels have certainly come off it big time.
Before i even look at the game i am going to clarify a couple of things, firstly this scathing indictment is not a knee jerk reaction to one poor result, its the tip of the iceberg going back two months and ten games, a run that has seen us pick up only 11 points out of the 30 on offer, secondly Im going to be saying nothing new, I have been saying the same things since even before the start of that bad run and as a manager and a team we have failed to address the problems.
Firstly I do not accept injuries and suspensions as a reason for this poor run, we have a big squad, what has been the problem in that department is the failure to use that squad to its full potential, at many times to put square pegs in square holes and that was certainly the case last night.
This was not the first time that the manager has completely got his selections and tactics wrong in the past two months, in fact its cost us dearly before, bringing on Harding for ox at Fratton is perhaps one that stands out, but last night it all came home to roost, players like to see continuity in those aforementioned selections and tactics, but they are seeing that in some areas but not in others, the manager now seems to be making change for change sake as in the case of Harding, playing him last night was folly, it wasnt as if he had no other choice, ichardson was fit and Butterfield has not only played regularly at this standard, but showed both last year and in his rare opportunities this, that he can play right back comfortably, so why gamble.
When a team is in the middle of a bad run, a good manager will look back at what things where done right in the past and get back to those basics, keep the teams shape and not tinker too much, Yago Falque's appearance in the starting line up highlighted a couple of issues about Adkins use of his squad, especially with a few key players out, instead of continuity we had even more chaos, Yago himself did not cover himself in glory, whilst its harsh to judge him on this one game, in no way shape or form did he look anywhere ready to play in this division, but it wasnt just lack of experience, he seemed to lack discipline, Ok he wasnt seeing much of the ball, but when he didnt get it he chased it over the park, so much so that after about 20 minutes it was hard to work out just where he was supposed to be playing, but it wasnt left midfield that was for certain, Im afraid to say that throwing him in struck me as a manager bereft of ideas and not confident in his own players.
Both goals were soft, yes Nugent's was a great strike, but firstly Harding was caught out of position, but when he got back, he did little to stop Nugent, always being too far off him to either close down Nugent's shooting angle or block the shot when it came, Nugent had to finish, but he wont get that much time and space very often thats for sure.
The second goal was just as bad, the failure to clear a ball and then stop the cross coming back in followed by a free header, too many times we do that, how many free headers do we give away, again look at the Pompey game as an example, Guly got all the stick, but it wasnt Guly's job to mark Ward, someone let him go and get that free header in and the same last night with Mills.
So now Nigel Adkins has got a real task on his hands, he has to turn around a slide that has been almost ignored for two months, he hasnt heeded the warning signals, I have always said that for Adkins this season would be a steep learning curve, he is in a situation he has never been in before and Saints success would depend on his ability to learn from his mistakes and adapt quickly, early in the season he did this but in truth its easy to do so when your on a winning run, but in the last two months he hasnt, although in fairness to him Im not sure how much his hands have been tied when it comes to signing players that he wanted, certainly he appeared keen on Jutkiewicz in both the loan window last year and the first week of this transfer window, perhaps he did see the fact that with the way we played we had no options if Lambert was injured or suspended, if thats the case things are coming home to roost now, only 10 goals scored in those 10 games is not exactly free scoring, especially when you consider that 3 of them were scored in one game, I wont even mention the 13 we conceded in the same period.
So to conclude, Im sure there are some who will take me to task for this verdict, accuse me of being negative and telling me that Im wrong Saints are brilliant etc etc, I do hope Im wrong, I hope that outr next ten games yield 20 points, but to be blunt I can only comment on the last ten not the next, if things dont change drastically and quickly our season will continue to fall apart.